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General Draft Thoughts

rossihunter2

Staff Member
Moderator
Uche plays with good leverage and generates much more power off his bull rush than I realized

here he man handles a guard standing at the line
View attachment 2282

Here, vs Iowa he rushes wide RT side, gets under and pushes Tackle into QB
View attachment 2283

i really struggle with uche because i see reps like the ones you've gif'ed but also then i look at him at the senior bowl and whenever he didnt win with pure speed around the edge he was completely nullified and then i look at what happened with tristan wirfs and multiple times he would win early in the rep and get into wirfs but didnt have enough power to finish and wirfs would re-anchor, recover and hold up (and in one spectacular case completely destroy uche) - now obviously that's a first round pick but i find the whole indicative of him needing to win with burst and speed because when OL get hands on more often than not it's over for him

but then ill see reps where he engages and then uses his speed and some push-pull to propel himself around the edge post-engaging
and obviously his burst and bend are outrageously attractive traits - and then add to that his ability to cover from that OLB spot and it's a pretty nice recipe

but im just not sure about him
 

RavensFan419

Pro Bowler
I'm just going to leave this here but I wouldn't be mad with D'Andre Smith at 28 I know a lot of people like our backfield and so do I but I really wouldn't be mad
 

rossihunter2

Staff Member
Moderator
thinking in terms of trading back - i know some of y'all are in on the whole trading up for a star type deal

but if we combined a 1st round trade back with a 3rd round trade up - there's a very realistic way we could end up with 4 2nd round picks - and that would be absurdly exciting
 

allblackraven

Hall of Famer
thinking in terms of trading back - i know some of y'all are in on the whole trading up for a star type deal

but if we combined a 1st round trade back with a 3rd round trade up - there's a very realistic way we could end up with 4 2nd round picks - and that would be absurdly exciting
I can't see EDC ever moving half the way up in 1st for a star WR. Value is just not there.
At 28 difference between BPA and the next best guy isn't significant. I think we'll trade down if we can.
 
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Ravensnation5220

Ravens Ring of Honor
thinking in terms of trading back - i know some of y'all are in on the whole trading up for a star type deal

but if we combined a 1st round trade back with a 3rd round trade up - there's a very realistic way we could end up with 4 2nd round picks - and that would be absurdly exciting
With our history of 2nd round picks that actually sounds like a nightmare
 

Simba

Staff Member
Moderator
The thing we always have to remember is trading back is difficult when you're at the back end of the round where everyone kind of blends together. I wouldn't be surprised if we can finagle a 3-5 spot drop but I'm not anticipating any major draft capital in return.
 

rossihunter2

Staff Member
Moderator
The thing we always have to remember is trading back is difficult when you're at the back end of the round where everyone kind of blends together. I wouldn't be surprised if we can finagle a 3-5 spot drop but I'm not anticipating any major draft capital in return.

the hope has to be that jordan love is still sitting there at 28 and the colts or panthers (or someone else) wants to come up and get the 5th year option on him

problem is they probably get a better offer from the 49ers to move up there

then again i feel like we say trading back is difficult every year and that not many teams will be wanting to come up and trade with us but then every year there's offers on the table and the last 2 years we've found it pretty easy to move back and still get the guy we wanted originally too
 

Simba

Staff Member
Moderator
the hope has to be that jordan love is still sitting there at 28 and the colts or panthers (or someone else) wants to come up and get the 5th year option on him

problem is they probably get a better offer from the 49ers to move up there

then again i feel like we say trading back is difficult every year and that not many teams will be wanting to come up and trade with us but then every year there's offers on the table and the last 2 years we've found it pretty easy to move back and still get the guy we wanted originally too

I think it's easy to move back a few spots but if you're expecting that a team is going to want to jump up 10+ spots and give you a middle of day 2 pick, that's what is a lot more difficult than we make it out to be. QB is obviously always the hotspot for that option, but I'd think a lot of teams in our range are also open to moving back as well.
 

JoeyFlex5

Hall of Famer
i really struggle with uche because i see reps like the ones you've gif'ed but also then i look at him at the senior bowl and whenever he didnt win with pure speed around the edge he was completely nullified and then i look at what happened with tristan wirfs and multiple times he would win early in the rep and get into wirfs but didnt have enough power to finish and wirfs would re-anchor, recover and hold up (and in one spectacular case completely destroy uche) - now obviously that's a first round pick but i find the whole indicative of him needing to win with burst and speed because when OL get hands on more often than not it's over for him

but then ill see reps where he engages and then uses his speed and some push-pull to propel himself around the edge post-engaging
and obviously his burst and bend are outrageously attractive traits - and then add to that his ability to cover from that OLB spot and it's a pretty nice recipe

but im just not sure about him
I frequently see him winning with more than just speed, he’s got a lot of power coiled up in that short thick frame and some good length in his arms, and he often uses it well, and has incredible quicks to go with his speed, if you get uche hand fighting and controlling wrists he’s gonna be really good.

he’s far from a powerful player but he isn’t out of that area of having the prerequisite play strength, he measured up pretty well compared to the likes of an Elvis dumervil combine wise, 2” taller, arms a inch and change longer, about 10 lbs less, but dumervil was a pure edge rusher and uche is quite obviously an all around OLB with elite potential as a rusher so they can’t be compared exactly. I’m also torn on uche because I just can’t buy in on these tweener types anymore because they so rarely work out, but I’ll be damned if uche doesn’t look like the safest bet of all the bowsers and correas of the world. I mean quite literally the only issue I see from him as a rusher is that he occasionally will take on a much bigger blocker square in his chest, at which point he tends to stall and then become one of those “motor” guys, kinda lingering around waiting for a chance to give chase.
 

LSURavenFan

Veteran
Ive done a few pick by pick mocks of the 1st round, factoring in the needs of the other clubs.

I don’t see a WR as being in the cards at 28.

Dallas, Miami and Philadelphia are threats to take Ruiz. I doubt he’s on the board past 21.

For the Queen and Murray fans, best case for you is 1 of them is available. Philly, NE and New Orleans may take them.

If EDC elects to stand pat at 28, I feel at least 1 of Epenesa, Gross-Matos, Baun or maybe even Chiasson will be available. Davidson, Blacklock or Madubuike also could be options
 

Edgar

Ravens Ring of Honor
thinking in terms of trading back - i know some of y'all are in on the whole trading up for a star type deal

but if we combined a 1st round trade back with a 3rd round trade up - there's a very realistic way we could end up with 4 2nd round picks - and that would be absurdly exciting
It really depends who is available in round one. Id have interest In moving up in the third or possibly the back end of 2 though.
I never really understood the idea in the first that if there exists a few players we have valued about the same, we might as well move back. Not in the first. Unless you are really getting a sweet offer, say a 1 the next year along with picks for this year or if you are only moving a spot or two, I say take your highest rated player or you might end up with your 3rd highest.
 

rossihunter2

Staff Member
Moderator
I think it's easy to move back a few spots but if you're expecting that a team is going to want to jump up 10+ spots and give you a middle of day 2 pick, that's what is a lot more difficult than we make it out to be. QB is obviously always the hotspot for that option, but I'd think a lot of teams in our range are also open to moving back as well.

i think the most we'd get is a late 3 unless we're doing a huge move into the mid-40s or later
 

Edgar

Ravens Ring of Honor
I think if we stay we'll see Baun, Davidson, possibly Gross matos there. Cushenberry would be interesting to me as well. Chaisson and Epenesa would be really enticing to go and get,
I still maintain that if we come out of the first round without Murray or Queen, it won't be for a lack of trying.
 

rossihunter2

Staff Member
Moderator
It really depends who is available in round one. Id have interest In moving up in the third or possibly the back end of 2 though.
I never really understood the idea in the first that if there exists a few players we have valued about the same, we might as well move back. Not in the first. Unless you are really getting a sweet offer, say a 1 the next year along with picks for this year or if you are only moving a spot or two, I say take your highest rated player or you might end up with your 3rd highest.

that's certainly true - if you're just going to move back until you run out of guys at a specific grade then what's the point in stacking the board at all...

what we seem to have been doing the last 2 years is trading back to spots where the guy we want at the position we want is still going to be available

like last year we see that hollywood likely is not coming off the board between the 2 picks
 

rossihunter2

Staff Member
Moderator
I think if we stay we'll see Baun, Davidson, possibly Gross matos there. Cushenberry would be interesting to me as well. Chaisson and Epenesa would be really enticing to go and get,
I still maintain that if we come out of the first round without Murray or Queen, it won't be for a lack of trying.

Cushenberry's a wildcard in this draft - i dont have any gauge on how high the league sees him
 
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